MORE THAN 1,000 LATINO NEW YORKERS ARE DIAGNOSED : PRESS RELEASES : NYC DOHMH

Information and Resources
For Your Health

Translate This Page

Print This Page

Email a Friend

Text Size :

Information for:

Health Department:


	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Release # 097-06 Friday, October 13, 2006 (212) 788-5290; (212) 788-3058 (After Hours) Andrew Tucker (atucker@health.nyc.gov) Sara Markt (smarkt@health.nyc.gov)

MORE THAN 1,000 LATINO NEW YORKERS ARE DIAGNOSED WITH HIV EACH YEAR.

National Latino Aids Awareness Day is October 15th

NEW YORK CITY - October 13, 2006 - In honor of National Latino Aids Awareness Day, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene today urged Latino New Yorkers to get an HIV test. Rapid testing is available to all New Yorkers at clinics throughout the five boroughs (see locations below). Free, confidential tests are available on a walk-in basis and results are ready within 30 minutes. All clinics offer services in Spanish.

“Getting an HIV test could save your life,” said Dr. Adam Karpati, Acting Assistant Commissioner for the Bureau of HIV Prevention and Control. “HIV testing is free, fast, and confidential at Health Department clinics. Only by knowing your HIV status can you get the treatment you need to live a longer, healthier life.”

HIV/AIDS in the Latino community

• Approximately 1,000 Latinos are diagnosed with HIV each year in New York City, and 300 people have already progressed to AIDS at the time they are diagnosed
• Death rates among Puerto Rican-born New Yorkers with AIDS is more than double the mortality in all Hispanics, and is more than triple the mortality in whites. In 2004, the death rate among all Puerto Ricans was 50.0 per 1,000 AIDS deaths, as compared to 22.2 among all Hispanics and 14.8 among whites
• More 1 in 4 New Yorkers newly diagnosed with HIV in New York City is Hispanic
• Almost one-third of people living with HIV/AIDS in New York (30,058 people) are Hispanic
• Of foreign-born Hispanics living with HIV/AIDS approximately 30% were born in the Caribbean, 30% in South America, 25% were born in Central America. Fifteen percent of Hispanics living with HIV/AIDS were born in Puerto Rico

Many organizations throughout the City will be hosting events to promote testing and awareness of HIV/AIDS in the Latino community, including the Latino Commission on AIDS. For more information on events, please see: www.nlaad.org.

DOHMH Clinic Locations

Manhattan	Queens
Central Harlem 2238 Fifth Avenue (137th Street) New York, NY 10037 phone: 212-690-1760	Jamaica 90-37 Parsons Blvd. 1st Flr. (off Jamaica Ave.) Jamaica, NY 11432 phone: 718 262-5572
East Harlem 158 East 115th Street (off Lexington Avenue) New York, NY 10029 phone: 212-360-5962	Corona 34-33 Junction Blvd. (Roosevelt/Northern) Jackson Heights, NY 11372 phone:718-476-7627
Chelsea 303 Ninth Avenue (28th Street) New York, NY 10001 phone: 212-239-1721	Rockaway 67-19 Rockaway Beach Blvd. Queens, NY 11692 phone: 718-945-7150
Riverside 160 West 100th Street (between Columbus/Amsterdam) New York, NY 10025 phone: 212-865-7757	Brooklyn
	Bushwick Clinic 335 Central Avenue (between Linden St and Grove St) Brooklyn, NY 11221 phone: (718)573-4820 and (718) 573-4823
Bronx	Fort Greene 295 Flatbush Ave. Extension 2nd Flr. Brooklyn, NY 11201 phone: 718- 643-4133
Morrisania 1309 Fulton Avenue (E 169th Street off 3rd Ave) Bronx, NY 10456 phone: 718-579-7714
Staten Island

Richmond 51 Stuyvesant Place (Wall Street) Staten Island, NY 10301 phone: 718-420-4994/4995

For more information about HIV testing, call 3-1-1 or visiting www.nyc.gov/health. Ordering condoms online is easy: log on to nyc.gov/health/condoms.

###